No Choice But to Fall
by Imagination7
Summary: Fine is driven to a cliff by her pursuers (the Moon Minister's Henchmen). Separated from Rein, she can't use Prominence, and Poomo is nowhere to be found, so she can't teleport out of the situation either. There's no escape. And that's when an idea came to her. She turned her head to look down the edge. If she was lucky, she would get away with only one broken bone... / A SHINE FIC
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello, this is my first fanfic in a _loooong while_ so please spare me for any mistakes I might have made. **

**This was originally supposed to be a oneshot, but as I wrote it, it just didn't seem fitting to continue writing on the same chapter after some point, hence the difference in the lengths of each chapter -v-' **

**The story takes place some time after Shade's revealed to be Eclipse~**

**And if it wasn't obvious, this is based on the anime only, sorry manga readers!**

**Also as stated, this is a ShadexFine fic, so if you don't like the pairing, then you don't have to read it~**

**Hope you have a fun read if you do!**

* * *

Run, _run_, _**run**_.

That was all she could do right now.

She didn't know where she was going, and she didn't care as long as she lost her pursuers.

This time, the moon minister had lost all patience and decided to take a more direct route to acquiring the power of Prominence.

All he had to do was separate the two princesses and their pet, making them unable to use Prominence and teleport together, and then his henchmen could do all the rest.

Of course, he didn't forget about Eclipse. He had already taken care of that by causing a distraction for him at the castle and delay his entrance for as long as possible.

And that's how Fine had gotten into this situation, being chased by three men in black and yellow clothes.

How could they have known that this would happen? They thought that someone was in danger and so they'd transformed, but the moment they did, they realized that it was just an illusion.

It was too late though, and they were captured.

They managed to escape thanks to Poomo and the henchmen's idiocy, but they were soon after being chased down.

The princesses and Poomo decided to separate, so that they'd each have fewer henchmen to deal with, and so they went their separate ways. But what they didn't have time to think about was _how_ they were going to deal with them.

Before she realized it, Fine was driven to the edge of a cliff, the henchmen right behind her. She tripped on a rock on the ground and fell face first

"Ow…" she said in mild pain, her forehead starting to ache

"We've got you now, little girl."

"There's nowhere to run now~"

"Unless you want to die, of course."

The henchmen all said, coming closer and closer, making her take more steps back towards the edge. If only Poomo was with her, they could have teleported somewhere else, or, at least, create a distraction so that she could get away.

'_Why did we ever agree to split up?'_ she thought, starting to panic a little on the inside

There was no escape. And that's when an idea came to her. She turned her head to look down the edge, at the bottom of the cliff. It didn't look too high up, if she was lucky, she would get away with only _one_ broken bone. She wished so, at least. But, there was no time to waste on thinking, with her pursuers ready to capture her and do Princess Grace knows what afterwards.

There was no choice but to fall.

And so, she jumped.

_"FINE!"_ she heard a male voice shout just as gravity had started to take control of her body.

* * *

**A/N: That's the end of the first chapter! Pretty short, I know, chapter two is around the same length but chapter three is loooooong, lmao xD**

**Thanks for taking the time to read this~!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: And here we have chapter 2! A few words shorter than chapter 1, but trust me, chapter 3 has over 2k words X'D**

**I hope you have a nice time reading this as well~**

* * *

She didn't know for how long she was falling, and she was too afraid to open her eyes and see how close she was to the ground below the cliff.

She just hoped that she really would get out of this alive, she still had so many things she wanted to do! So many types of food she hadn't gotten the chance to eat yet! And not to mention, if she died she wouldn't be able to help Poomo and fulfill the promise she and Rein made to Princess Grace.

She'd also miss everyone…her father, her mother, Rein, Poomo, Bright and Altezza, Lione and Tio, Sophie and Auler, Mirlo, Milky and…Shade…

No! Now was not the time to feel sad, she had to be strong and have faith that she would be fine, with no irredeemable damage done to her body, hopefully.

She had to survive, she just had to…

* * *

Shade was making Regina run as fast as she could, hoping he wasn't too late.

The Prime Minister had taken as hostage his sister, Milky, and so he had no choice but to fight off all the henchmen keeping her captive. Thankfully, he managed to defeat them all, leaving all but one unconscious. He made sure to get every little piece of information about their plan out of the one henchman he left responsive. That's how he found out that the princesses were in danger. He left Milky in her room and immediately went to find the two princesses of the Sunny Kingdom, as fast as he could.

On the way there, he found Rein and Poomo running towards him with four henchmen on their trail, and helped them by defeating them.

"Thank you, Prince Shade." Rein said, relieved that now she wasn't being chased

"Thank you-poomo!" Poomo added

"Never mind that, where's Fine?" Shade asked worriedly

"We…we uh…separated…" Rein answered hesitantly, already knowing Shade's reaction to their plan

"You-" he sighed, "Doesn't matter, just tell me which direction she went off to, and go to the Moon Kingdom's castle where you'll be safe for the time being."

After some more convincing, and promising them both that he'd bring Fine back safe and sound, they told him which direction she'd taken when they separated and then left.

Shade looked towards the direction where Fine was with a determined look in his eyes, and then he and Regina started galloping to that path, all the while hoping that he wasn't too late…

* * *

**A/N: Uuuuuu, cliffhangers am I rite? _The drama is too strong_, lol.**


	3. Chapter 3 (I SWEAR THIS WAS A ONESHOT-)

**A/N: (original chapter's title: Chapter 3 **_**(I SWEAR THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A ONESHOT-))**_

**And here we have chapter 3! Like I said, this thing's over 2k words, lol**

**Hope you enjoy reading this last chapter as well~**

* * *

"Come on Regina, faster, faster!" Shade said as he kicked Regina on the sides, hoping that'd get them to where Fine was sooner.

He had to get there in time, he just had to.

_He couldn't bear the thought of losing Fine-_

No.

He wouldn't lose hope yet.

Shaking his head, he told Regina to go even faster.

"We're coming, Fine." he whispered under his breath

* * *

He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

There Fine was, being chased by three of the Moon Minister's followers, and coming closer towards the edge of a cliff.

He had to do something, before it was too late.

He got off Regina and nodded his head towards the other path, leading directly underneath that hill.

Regina, knowing immediately what her rider was implying for her to do, started running towards that road.

Shade watched as Regina left, hoping that his backup plan, although reckless, would succeed, if all else failed.

And so, with that in mind, he started running towards Fine and her pursuers.

* * *

_No no no no_ _**NO!**_

Just as he was about to catch up to them, she _jumped_.

_"FINE!"_ he screamed just as he leaped and fell after her.

* * *

She didn't know how long she was falling for, but suddenly, she felt strong arms wrap around her small frame, and that made her finally open her eyes again.

"S-Shade?!", she exclaimed, surprised, "What are you doing here?! You're going to die!"

Shade just looked her in the eyes, and smiled reassuringly.

And that's when Fine knew that she could trust him. He knew what he was doing, he'd proven that to her countless of times before.

She hung onto him and closed her eyes again, while Shade just held her to his chest even tighter, and looked towards the ground.

Just as Fine felt that they'd become human scrambled eggs, they suddenly stopped falling.

"Fine, it's okay, you can open your eyes now." Shade said in a calm and comforting tone

She was reluctant to open her eyes at first, but she willed herself to do it, and when Fine finally opened her eyes, she discovered that she and Shade had fallen on top of Regina.

"Wow…thanks Regina!" she said, her voice full of gratitude towards Shade's trusty companion

Regina just neighed, as if to say _"You're welcome"_, and started going back to the Moon Kingdom's castle.

Fine then looked towards Shade, only to realize how close they were to each other. She immediately blushed and tried to get further away from him, to put some distance between them, but she found herself unable to as he tightened his hold on her once more.

"…Shade?" she asked reluctantly as she looked towards his night blue eyes

Shade said nothing as he brought her even closer, if that was even possible, and embraced her, putting his head on her left shoulder.

"Sorry, can we stay like this for a bit?" Shade said, his voice trembling slightly

She noticed his shoulders shaking, and that's when it hit her.

They both almost _died_.

_Shade_ almost died, and it'd have been her fault, and her fault alone.

Fine felt tears form up in her eyes, and finally hugged Shade back tightly, squeezing his yellow and black coat on its sides.

She squeezed her eyes shut and rested her head on his own left shoulder, finally letting her tears roll down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" she kept muttering

"I almost lost you…" he said on her shoulder in return

They stayed like that for a bit more, and they'd have stayed longer had they not been interrupted by the three henchmen they'd almost forgotten about.

"You won't get away so easily this time!" one of them yelled, just as they were about to pounce on them from behind

The Moon Minister's subordinates then threw ropes towards Regina's legs, making her trip and Fine and Shade fall from her back.

Shade made sure to protect Fine as they landed on the rough ground, resulting in him hitting his head hard, but not enough that it'd make him go unconscious.

"Ouch-" he exclaimed in slight pain

Fine looked up at him worriedly, going to touch behind his head softly, hoping that there won't be a lot of blood.

Thankfully, there wasn't.

But that didn't mean that it couldn't be serious.

Sitting up on the ground with Fine between his legs and still in his arms, Shade glared at the henchmen.

"What's wrong little prince, can't run away anymore?" the tallest of the three taunted

Shade just clicked his teeth and held Fine even tighter.

Fine squeezed her eyes shut, afraid of what was to come.

"Hey No17, maybe boss will promote us for this!" one of the other two exclaimed in a happy tone

As they got closer, Shade started panicking. He didn't know what to do. He was hoping that they would have had enough time to get away from them before they caught up.

_Just what should he do to protect Fine-_

"NOT SO FAST-POOMO" shouted a familiar voice

"Poomo!" Fine yelled, happy to see her friend come to her and Shade's rescue

While the henchmen were distracted, Poomo quickly untied Regina, and gave her his teleportation chest to hold in her mouth.

Once Rein was safe in the Moon Castle he, after convincing her that it'd be better if he went alone, because she would be in the way otherwise, since the power of Prominence wouldn't help them in this situation, immediately left to bring Fine and Shade back.

It'd taken him a lot of strength to concentrate on the exact location where he could feel Fine's power emanating from, but he managed to teleport there successfully, and he had enough will to make sure to take everyone back, or as close to the castle as he could.

The henchmen tried to chase after him, but Poomo led them in circles, making them dizzy, and so Shade took that opportunity and whistled Regina over, having Fine help him get up and then stand near his faithful pet.

Once the three subordinates were dizzy enough, Poomo flew over to the others and quickly started the teleportation spell.

Poomo was nervous that he'd teleport them too far away from the castle, but thankfully, they were able to appear in the city, near the castle's gates.

"You saved us Poomo, thank you." Fine said, smiling towards her friend

"It's nothing-poomo! I just fulfilled my duty as your loyal servant, and friend!" the fairy exclaimed in return

Suddenly Shade fell on his knees, and he'd have fallen face-first on the road had it not been for Fine holding him up.

"Shade!" / "Prince Shade!" Fine and Poomo exclaimed at the same time, while Regina made worried noises

"Come on Poomo, help me get Shade on top of Regina, we have to get him to the castle to get help fast!" Fine told her companion, a determined look in her eyes

After somehow managing to lift Shade up and get him on top of Regina's back, they started their short walk to the castle.

Approaching it, Rein appeared, opening the main entrance.

"Fine, Poomo!" she shouted, relieved to see her twin sister and their friend safe

"Rein! Quick, call a doctor, Shade's hurt!" Fine called out

Rein then looked at Regina and noticed Shade's unconscious form.

She nodded determinedly and went back inside to inform one of the attendants there to call for one the royal doctors.

"Don't worry Shade, you'll get better soon." Fine whispered towards the prince, not wishing to disturb him any further

* * *

The wait for the doctor to come out of Shade's room was unbearable.

Fine couldn't stand still or sit down. Instead, she was pacing around the length of Shade's door.

"Fine, don't worry, I'm sure that it was nothing serious." Rein said, trying to calm her twin down, but to no avail

"But Rein, you don't get it! He got hurt because of me! I should have done something, _anything_, to protect him. I'm the one with the Prominence powers, he doesn't have that. I could have used the invisibility spell, or the Simon says spell, or done _literally anything other than just stand around and being protected by him_!" by the end of her outburst, she'd started crying again

"Even now I'm powerless, all I can do is cry…" she sniffed

"Fine…" / "Fine-sama…" Rein and Poomo said, with Milky throwing some unintelligible baby words, as they all looked at each other worried for the usually cheerful and full of energy princess

Rein then hugged her sister, because she knew that words would just harm her more than anything, so the best thing she could do was stay silent and support her. Poomo and Milky soon joined in on the hug too.

Fine's cries continued on, until finally the door to Shade's room opened, and out came a middle-aged woman with brown hair and black-rimmed glasses.

Looking over at the twins and their pet, as well as Princess Milky, the woman gave them a reassuring smile before saying "There is no need to cry or worry, princesses. Prince Shade will be fine, he just had a mild concussion. The wound on his head is not big enough to require surgery, and the scar won't be visible."

"Miss Doctor, can we go inside to see Shade?" Rein asked

"Sure, but you have to be quiet for the prince is sleeping." the doctor said

"Thank you Miss Doctor-poomo." Poomo expressed his gratitude by bowing towards the doctor as she left

"Fine, let's go see Shade, alright?" Rein asked tentatively

"…okay." the red-haired princess said, still sniffing a little, but this time from relief

Going inside, they all immediately went and stood next to the bed.

Shade was sleeping peacefully, thankfully.

Fine got on her knees and placed one of Shade's hands in hers, holding it tightly.

"Thank God…" Fine muttered under her breath, a few tears still sliding down her cheeks

Milky floated next to Shade's head, making sure that he was alright, and then looked at Rein and Poomo, pushing them towards the door.

"I think Princess Milky wants you two to have some time alone-poomo." Poomo said

"Then we'll be going ahead, okay, Fine?" Rein asked

"Yeah, I'll catch up to you guys soon." Fine answered with a small smile on her lips

Closing the door behind them, the others went to Milky's room to pass the time.

Silence took over Shade's room as Fine kept looking at him.

"I'm so glad you'll be okay…", she said before she started crying again, "I-I'm really sorry for being stupid and putting you in danger, I s-should have been more careful…" she sniffed

Still holding onto Shade's hand, she put her head on her arms, making a makeshift pillow with them, and continued to cry.

She had no one to blame but herself for this.

"Stupid, _stupid, __**stupid!**_" she said outloud

At that moment she felt Shade's hand squeeze her own, and that made her jump up, not anticipating for him to react in his state.

She watched as Shade slowly opened his eyes, and looked at her with a relieved smile.

"Fine…you're alright…" he said

"S-Shade!" Fine exclaimed surprised

"W-water…" he muttered

"Water, yes, right away!" Fine said, and brought the glass of water the doctor had put on his nightstand to him

Shade tried to sit up but Fine stopped him, instead helping him sit up herself.

"Here, drink this." she went to give him the glass, but thinking better of it, she instead brought it to his lips, since his strength wouldn't have come back yet

"Thank you." he said after drinking almost all of it

Leaving the glass back on his nightstand, silence overtook the room once again.

"Fine, look at me." he said

She reluctantly raised her head from where she had it lowered to look at her hands on top of her lap.

"Don't blame yourself for what happened, I did what I did because I wanted to. Because I wanted to protect you." he told her in a calm voice

"But I should have done something! Maybe then you wouldn't have gotten hurt…" Fine exclaimed

"Sure things could have gone better, but I'm still here, and so are you and Rein and Poomo, and that's all that matters." Shade said, looking at her with a reassuring smile, hoping to make her feel better

At his words she started crying again, crying his name out before embracing him and apologizing repeatedly. He didn't say anything else, just held onto her and patted her back lightly, making soft shushing sounds to calm her down.

"It's alright, I'm here." he said once she'd regained her composure a little

"Shade…" Fine started

"Hmm?" the boy asked curiously

"Promise me that you'll never do something that reckless again…please…I can't stand the thought of losing you because I was stupid." she begged

Shade didn't say anything, hesitating.

"Shade, _please._" this time she said it desperately

"I can't promise you anything other than that I will try." he finally said, hoping that she'd leave it at that

"…okay, since that's all you can give me right now, I'll take it." Fine said, looking at him

They stared at each other for a few more minutes before the door suddenly barged open and Rein and Poomo fell on the floor while Milky floated above them.

"Uh…oops?" Rein said, hesitantly

They only wanted to check up on them, but thinking that they'd ruin the mood, had instead waited for the right time to come in while listening to Shade's and Fine's conversation.

At that moment Shade and Fine both realized their position and quickly separated, both red in the face.

"R-REIN, POOMO!" Fine yelled, embarrassed

"Even Milky saw that…" Shade muttered under his breath while his baby sister was dancing happily on her floating star

And just like that, after all that stress, it became just a normal day for the twin princesses of the Wonder Planet and their loyal fairy companion.

But perhaps, that day did bring something good along with it.

Fine and Shade felt like they'd gotten closer, and everyone else could see the spark between them grow bigger too.

So maybe, all that chaos was able to deliver some welcomed results as well…

_**THE END.**_


End file.
